Wednesday, April 02, 2008

POST-APOCALYPTICPeriodically I do a list of books about the end of the world or about dystopic societies -- and these often are stories about the world post-apocalypse -- what happens to our world when everything we know is destroyed? Who seeks to control the people who are left? What is the government like? What do people eat? What kinds of technology exist? Have the people and animals mutated? How do they communicate? Is it safe to live above ground, or is there disease and pollution in the air?Depending on how the world ended (nuclear disaster, war, disease, flood, etc.) will determine the answers to most of these questions, and I usually enjoy well-written fiction books that speculate on such a world.I just recently finished Shadow Speaker, one such book set in Africa just a generation after a nuclear & environmentalist war that has destroyed continents, changed technology, and given some people new abilities. It's a coming of age adventure, with magic, technology, and different worlds. A great story with good action and odd little pieces of imagination.

Now that I've finished that one, I'm working on the Longlight Legacy Trilogy -- I'm almost finished with the second book. Good good stuff. I had read the first book some years ago and quite liked it, but I realized when I read it again this past weekend, that I had forgotten most of it. A few generations after much of the earth has been destroy, Roan and his sister are the only survivors of an attack on their peaceful village. His sister is taken, and Roan is left on his own to discover why the two of them are so important to The City and to other gatherings of people outside The City. What he finds out on his quest -- his abilities to travel into the Dreamworld, strange creatures that inhabit the world outside his village, children being taken from their parents to be sold for parts, and so much more -- leaves him with more questions and responsibilities, and turns him into a guy with a mission. We have all three books at the library -- I suggest you check them out if you've read and enjoyed things like the Uglies series by Westerfeld or the Hungry City Chronicles by Reeves. Check out a few more options here.Enjoy the end of the world!